The 7-Eleven store on the southwest corner of North Gaffey Street and West Capitol Drive could have gas pumps in the future. 7-Eleven Inc. intends to demolish the store and rebuild it as a gas station with a convenience store. Whether it is successful or not may depend on what side of the property it chooses to place the store.
The original proposal put the store at the corner of the property, facing both Gaffey and Capitol. That arrangement would conform with San Pedro’s community plan, said Diana Nave, chairwoman of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee, when she spoke at the council’s Oct. 13 meeting.
Because of community feedback, 7-Eleven also considered placing the building at the back of the lot, like a traditional gas station, Nave said. However, the Los Angeles City Planning Department stated it won’t approve such a layout.
“If our board were to support the traditional layout, it would mean that the Planning Department would reject the proposal,” Nave said. “7-Eleven would then need to appeal it to the Area Planning Commission and they would need to find that there are some extraordinary circumstances that prevented it from being built in the front of the lot.”
The station will have four gas pumps, two hoses each, for a total of eight fueling positions. Nave said the Planning and Land Use committee asked 7-Eleven to put in electric vehicle charging stations. However, the company had only committed to putting in conduits for two stations, but not the actual charging stations themselves. If its plans are approved, it will apply for a rebate from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for the charging stations.
Peter Burmeister, a member of the NWSPNC’s planning and land use committee, said neither the committee, the council or even 7-Eleven have done any outreach to the community that directly surrounds the project.
“I personally went to the homeowners over here and the businesses around,” Burmeister said. “None of them knew about that project.”
Burmeister does not believe the council or the Planning and Land Use Committee are acting in the best interests of the community, but rather like a broker for the developer.
“We as homeowners, our quality of life is at stake,” Burmeister said. “That’s their responsibility to outreach to the neighbors and outreach to the businesses adjacent to it. And, the chair of the Northwest Neighborhood Council, the outreach chair, has the responsibility to notify the community about it, and they didn’t do that.”
Nave said that once the project is set for a zoning administrator hearing, then the businesses and residences within 500 feet will be notified.
“That’s why the businesses next door weren’t aware of this,” said Melanie Labrecque, treasurer of the NWSPNC. “Once that happens, then they’ll be notified.”
Nave said that this item was put on their agenda with the purpose of informing the community.
“One of the reasons that we put it on our board agenda a month or two ago … is a way of increasing outreach to the community and raising awareness early as to this proposed project,” Nave said.
Burgmeister said that most people are so preoccupied with their own lives they would not necessarily see it online.
Board member John DiMeglio said that there was no reason to wait to inform the public about the project. He also questioned whether gas tanks were even needed in the area.
“Why are we putting dirty tanks in the ground?” DiMeglio said. “I thought we stopped doing that, or we shouldn’t be doing that.”
When the oil tankers are driven to the site of the project, they will not be taken through Capitol Drive, Nave said. Instead, they will come from Gaffey Street, but it is yet to be determined if they will come from the north or the south.
“The neighborhood didn’t want them going through the residential area,” Nave said.
The council did not act on this item at the Oct. 13 meeting, leaving it to be discussed further at the Oct. 28 meeting of the Planning and Land Use Committee.